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This week’s spin cycle prompt from Lemon Drop Pie, in honor of NaBloPoMo, is “free choice”. What Ginny Marie means by this is to write what comes to mind. I have been feeling particularly uninspired this month, which is why I’ve written less than I do in most months rather than more. It’s not that nothing’s been on my mind, but it’s been tough to put it into words that others find interesting to read. Then again, I write more for myself than for my readers, unlike some heavy weights in the blogosphere. Then again, they seem to write for their sponsors even more than for their readers. Oh well.

A few months ago, I came across a prompt from I think it is The SITS Girls, which was to write about your first car. Now I don’t drive, but my husband does. I find this prompt particularly relevant now, as our current car broke down on the highway on Saturday. It sudddenly became unmanageable while my husband was driving 110 km/hour and not in the right lane. Thankfully, he was able to maneuver the car onto the shoulder before it crashed completely. Neither of us was injured and the car was taken good care of by roadside assistance. He now drives a car on loan and we’re having to get this car repaired. This is the third time the not-so-lovely secondhand Kia Rio has broken down in the four months that my husband owns it.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that we long for our lovely Suzuki Baleno, also bought secondhand in August of 2012, three months after my husband got his license. We sometimes nicknamed the car “Balympia”, after my sister-in-law’s horse, whose name is Olympia, but usually we just called it Baleno.

The car was fine for a sixteen-year-old car when we bought it and didn’t have its first problem until its annual check the following year. We had this issue fixed and the car was fine for almost another year, when the head gasket broke down. The head gasket, my husband explained, is a piece of cardboard that sits between the engine block and the cylinder head of a car. It is cheap, but in order to replace it, the entire engine needs to be taken apart. Cost is approximately E700. Given that we bought the car at E995, we considered the car ecnonmically totaled in May of this year.

After the Baleno, we got a 1995 Kia Sephia. I don’t remember what caused us to throw out this car. Since it was a cheap car, we didn’t want to invest a lot of money into it, so we brought it to be interchanged at its first major problem. My husband reasoned that maybe a more expensive but also newer car would be a reasonable choice. This is how we ended up with the 2002 Kia Rio.

Kia Rio is a much more popular brand than Kia Sephia or Suzuki Baleno, which may be why my husband isn’t as attached to it as he was especially to the Baleno. We however fall into a familiar thinking trap, which is that, the more expensive something was when you first bought it, the more likely you are to want to keep it and invest in it. This is why we’re still keeping this car despite three major repairs in four months.

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21 thoughts on “Cars”

My first car was a Ford Escort which my Grandad gave me on my 17th birthday – it was especially special as he had won it in a raffle for ten pence, then driven it for ten or so years before passing it on to me, and then I passed it onto my brother, who wrote it off in an accident- but he still has the registration plate!

My first car was also a Ford Escort. However, it was passed down from one of my older brothers, not my grandfather. After that, I bought my own Ford Escort. We kind of had a thing for Ford Escorts at the time, as four of the five of us kids started with that type of car. Now the car of choice in our family seems to be Hondas, as we have five Honda CRVs and four Honda Odysseys in the family! Seriously, Honda should put us in a commercial. LOL!

Glad to hear you’re both ok we a car ok the motorway break down in the fast lane and it was scary. I don’t drive either but since my husband has got his mondeo it’s all about keeping it in good condition x

We do keep our car in good condition. However the wheel bearing broke without warning, normally you would expect horrible noises before that happens. Fortunately even a car with a loose wheel can be steered to the shoulders of the highway if you stay calm…

Thanks for the clarification Jeroen. I had to look up so many technical terms that I didn’t bother explaining what exactly had happened to the car. I don’t think Lori meant to suggest you don’t keep your car in good condition though.

I didn’t learn to drive until I was 35 so my first car was really special. It was a silver Corsa and the kids named her Barbara (no idea why). Unfortunately she got a bit to unreliable and had to be upgraded to a newer version………….I shall always remember her as my very first car and my independence xx

Oh my goodness, that sounds scary! You must have been so relieved to escape unharmed.

My first car was a Morris Minor 1000 series, the original split screen model. It had a 3 cylinder engine, about three controls (start, windscreen wiper on/off and headlights) and flip out indicators. My mum was satisfied that I’d be safe in it because the most it would do was 50mph, and that was going downhill!

Isn’t it amazing how we can always remember what cars we’ve had! I never really had a first car, my step dad had loads of cars (he collected them) so I just had whatever was available when I needed one. The first car I ever bought myself though was a VW Golf. I loved that car but I’m very much a Land Rover girl now!

My first car was a Buick Skyhawk…and I was stranded by the side of the road when my head gasket broke! I don’t remember how much it cost to fix, but I did fix it. I had that car for a long time until my brother bought it from me.

This is perfect for this week’s Spin Cycle! Just what I had in mind! Thanks for joining in again!

My first car was a mini…its doors fell off.
My second car was a vintage Triumph Herald…it beeped every time I went round a corner and at one time after a friend ‘fixed it’ it only moved the windscreen wipers when i opened the door! Driving in the rain trying to constantly open and shut the door was no fun!

We’re having car trouble as well at the moment. It cost us £150 last week for a service which we hoped would stop the problems we’d been having. It didn’t so we spent another £50 in parts which we hoped would stop the problems we’d been having. It didn’t so we’ve had to take it back to the garage and it’s now going to cost another £140 this week.
We’re now considering selling it and getting a cheaper one with no on board computers and expensive bits to go wrong!